Saturday, October 20, 2012

Socca Recipe- Chickpea Flour Flatbread- Gluten Free

Socca is a gluten free, high protein, vegan flatbread type thing that works as a decent starch for means instead of bread. It's made out of chickpea flour, which you can buy cheapest in Indian stores, where it is called Besan, or you can buy it in health food stores or other places that sell gluten free flour, or you can grind it in your own grain grinder. This is one of those things though that you can't grind in your coffee grinder- it won't work and can easily burn out your machine.
The first time I ever made socca, something happened to it and it started getting all bubbly and foamy, and then I watered it down further, and its texture was perfect- flexible, and crepe like, very delicious. Since then I discovered that what had happened then was a fluke, and it really is supposed to have a crispy pancake like texture, or thick cracker texture, but I'll admit, I am still trying to figure out what I did "wrong" that first time so that I can repeat it...

Other than chickpea flour, socca has no weird, specialty ingredients like xathan gum or whatever, and it has no eggs, making it very allergy friendly.

Socca is a food originally from Nice, France, and traditionally was made in a stone oven with a cast iron skillet, but can also be done in the oven or on the stovetop if desired, and can be done without cast iron.

Socca Recipe- Chickpea Flour Flatbread

Ingredients:
1 cup chickpea flour
1-1 1/4 cup water
1-2 tablespoons olive oil or regular oil
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon cumin (optional) or other spices

Instructions:
1. Mix all the ingredients together. Let sit for half an hour to 24 hours on the counter. You want the batter to be like a thinner pancake batter.


2. Pout a little oil in your skillet, non stick frying pan, or 9 inch round baking pan either in the oven or on the stove top.

3. When hot, pour enough batter to cover the bottom, swirl it around so the entire bottom is covered, then stick it back on the burner on a medium/high heat, or stick it in the broiler.




4. If doing on the stovetop, cook until one side is browned, and then flip over.



5. If cooking in the oven/broiler, cook until blistering on the top. If on the stovetop, cook until the second side is browned.


6. Remove from the oven/from the pan. If desired, cut up and drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with spices.


Have you ever eaten socca before or heard of it? Ever made it before? Does this look like something you'd try out? 
Ever buy chickpea flour? What have you used it for?


2 comments:

  1. I love socca. Your recipe is much easier than mine so I will use yours. I add minced onion, garlic and hot peppers before baking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I use Azwain, an Indian spice, and often add cooked potatoes, or other veggies to the batter.

    ReplyDelete

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